97,738 inpatient admissions in the Western Trust, 21.3 per cent of all admissions in North

New bed availability and occupancy figures, meanwhile, show that the Western had the lowest proportion of average available beds in 2023/24 with 17.9 per cent (928.8) of the 5,198.1 beds available across the North.

The figures are contained in the Department of Health's latest annual inpatient activity report, which also provides details of throughput - a measurement of the average number of inpatient admissions treated in each available bed open overnight each year.

In 2023/24, the report reveals, the Western Trust had the highest throughput with 47.2 admissions per bed, while the Belfast Trust had the lowest with 35.9 admissions per bed.

The Western Trust also recorded the shortest average length of inpatient stay with 6.7 days.

The report goes on to provide details of operating theatre activity by hospital.

In 2023/24 Altnagelvin’s theatres accounted for the second highest number of cases operated on, with 12,636 cases.

The top five hospitals with the highest number of cases operated on – Royal Victoria (13,206), Altnagelvin (12,636), Ulster (10,844), Craigavon (10,508) and Musgrave Park (7,266) - accounted for over half (51.4 per cent, 54,460 cases) of all theatre activity in the North.

In 2023/24, the Western Trust also accounted for the second highest percentage of acute admissions in the North with 21.4 per cent (86,665 admissions): 30,474 day case (35.2 per cent), 25,994 non-elective (30 per cent), 23,265 regular attenders (26.8 per cent) and 6,932 elective (eight per cent).

The Western Trust posted the second lowest day case rate with 81.5 per cent of elective admissions recorded as day cases.

Bed availability and occupancy figures for acute beds show the Western accounted for 15.34 per cent (571.2) of the 3723.6 acute beds available across the North in 2023/24.

In 2023/24 the Western Trust had the lowest average length of stay at 5.6 days within the acute programme of care.

Details of acute care delivered by third party providers show that of 15,022 admissions to hospitals in the North for an inpatient or day case procedure with an Independent Sector provider in 2023/24, 2,902 (19.3 per cent) were in the Western Trust.

Altnagelvin will never be able to cope with pressures without new A&E says Delargy